Bye Bye ‘Hangouts On Air’, Hello YouTube Live

Yes, we are still writing about Google+. No, there’s nothing wrong with the social network (term used loosely here), just a series of services restructuring, transforming it into more of a YouTube by-product, rather than a separate entity.

And what do I mean? Well, according to its latest update, Google+ will be deprecating its Hangouts on Air, in favour of YouTube Live. The final date to make the switch is September 12th, after which, you will no longer be able to use anything other than YouTube Live, as there won’t be any alternatives.

Hangouts on Air comes with a series of features (Applause for example), that may become available on YouTube Live at a later date. Moreover, recorded Hangouts will still be available for everyone to view.

We’re still not sure about the repositioning of Google+, which looks perpetual, but it does make sense for Google to deepen the connection with existing products and services. This includes YouTube of course, in order to make Google+ a useful extension of its current suite, and not a whole new platform. As with all things, time will tell whether this is move is in the right decision.